TEHRAN – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said that youths are the “first victims” of drug trafficking.

He made the remarks in a message to conference on International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking read out by Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli on Saturday.

Rouhani described the day as a “good opportunity” to “raise awareness” about the harms of drug abuse and draw up strategies in campaign against drug trafficking.

The statement said that Iran is a neighbor to Afghanistan that is the major source of drug production and this has harmed the country both in terms of drug trafficking and drug abuse.

Iran is implementing some comprehensive plans to prevent and decrease harms resulting from drug trafficking by using domestic scientific capacities and involvement of non-governmental organizations, the statement added.

Given the theme of the day in 2015, ‘Let’s Develop Our Lives, Our Communities without Drugs’, more fundamental steps would be taken to “have a world without drugs”, it said.

The statement urged the international community, specifically the international institutions, to consider the following points in adopting policies:

1- Paying attention to an alternative livelihood in the main areas used for producing narcotics with support of the international community.

2- Constant cooperation to prevent the illegitimate revenues from drug trafficking to enter the international financial systems.

3- Realizing the principle of joint responsibility to give technical help to countries that are located on the route for drug transit and also exchange “operational information”.

4- Transferring collective experiences in reducing demands for narcotics and raise awareness about their harms.

-----Minister says Iran receiving least international aid in drug war-----

The interior minister said that Iran is receiving the least international cooperation in fight against drug trafficking.

Campaign against drug trafficking can be promoted if the various countries and specifically the UN and other international bodies expand “constant, effective and useful” cooperation in this regard, Rahmani Fazli added.

He also stated that spread of addiction in Iran is over 50 percent which is a high figure. However, he said that 97 percent of the Iranian people shun drug abuse.

NA/PA